Poetry

[ 11 basic steps for reading a poem ]

The following procedure is borrowed from the Online Writing Lab at Louisiana Tech (http://www.latech.edu/tech/liberal-arts/english/old/owl/literature/poetryguide.htm).

1. Read through the poem to get a sense of it.
2. Identify the sentences and independent clauses (circle the periods, exclamation points, question marks, and semicolons). For some reason, people always forget that poetry is made up of complete sentences. You may find it helpful during this step to re-write your poem in sentence/paragraph form.
3. Read a few lines to figure out the meter (figure out how many stresses there are in a typical line). In other words, decide if your poem has a rhythm or "beat."
4. Note the rhyme scheme (look for a pattern).
5. Read the poem out loud. Try to follow the rhythm. If you do this, you'll hear where the poet plays with the rhythm. And you'll hear the rhyme scheme.
6. Look up any words you don't understand.
7. Re-read the poem out loud.
8. Mark off any sections in the poem. These sections may be speeches given by a character, discussions of a particular topic, changes in mood, or a new stage of an argument.
9. Re-read the poem.
10. Figure out the tone -- the emotion -- of the poem.
11. Re-read the poem.

[Poetry Out Loud]
Official Website
Online Archive -Competition Approved Poems
Classroom Competition Form

[Assignments]

• Introduction to poetry
• Poetry Out Loud
  • Rubric Jigsaw
  • Poem summary
  • Tone mapping
  • Classroom competition
• Theme for English B
• Poetry Folders